1. Lord of the Flies
William Golding

2. About William Golding British novelist
Winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature
Fought in Royal Navy during WWII
Participated in invasion of Normandy on D-Day
At war’s end, returned to teaching and writing

3. Golding’s Fiction
Allegorical: containing allegory (a story that can be interpreted to reveal a hidden meaning)
Allusions to
Classical literature
Mythology
Christian symbolism

4. Lord of the Flies
“It was simply what seemed sensible for me to write after the war when everyone was thanking God they weren’t Nazis. I’d seen enough to realize that every single one of us could be Nazis.”
~William Golding on his novel Lord of the Flies

5. About the Novel Set in mid 1940’s when Europe engulfed in war.
A plane carrying British school boys is mistaken for a military craft and shot down.
Only the boys survive the crash, and try to form a society and govern themselves.

6. Philosophical Influence
Thomas Hobbes
English Philosopher:
Man is by nature selfishly individualistic
Man constantly at war with other men
Fear of violent death is sole motivation to create civilizations
Men need to be controlled by absolute sovereignty to avoid brutish behavior

7. The World Golding Knew WWII 1939 - 1945
The fall of France to Nazi Germany in 1940
Britain feared an invasion and evacuated children to other countries
1940: A German U-Boat torpedoed British ship carrying children. The boys were killed, thus suspending the overseas evacuation program.

8. Major WWII Events
1939- Britain joined France in war against Nazi Germany
1940- Fall of France
1940- Fascist Italy joins with Germany
1941- Japan attacks Pearl Harbor causing the US to declare war on Japan and enter the war
1944- D-Day Normandy Landings
1945- Bombing of Dresden
1945- European victory celebrated
1945- Atomic Bomb dropped in Hiroshima immediately killing 60-80,000 people (final death toll 135,000 people)
Death and destruction abound!!!

9. Modern Day Allusions Allusion- (n.) an indirect reference to something
There are many, many modern day allusions to Lord of the Flies in popular culture.
For example….

10. Themes in the Novel Civilization vs. Savagery Loss of Innocence
Original Sin
Fear that separates one from God
Nature of Good and Evil
Goodness is rare and fleeting

11. Motifs in the Novel
Biblical parallels (book criticized for re- telling episodes in the Bible)
Pristine places corrupted by evil
Beel’zebub- Hebrew translation for Lord of the flies

12. Symbols in the Novel The Conch- Civilization and order
The Beast- The fear that separates man from God
Piggy’s Glasses- Reason, science and insight
Lord of the Flies- Evil
Fire Signal- Hope, salvation